Portland Mayor Charlie Hales says "nothing is off the table" in the search for an immediate infusion of cash to fix the city's roads.

Hales' comments came in a wide-ranging Monday discussion with The Oregonian's Editorial Board. Hales and Commissioner Steve Novick, who runs the city's Bureau of Transportation, want to raise up to $53 million annually to pay for road safety and maintenance projects.

The current plan, tabled in early June and scheduled to return for a City Council vote in November, calls for monthly fees on both residents and businesses. For a typical homeowner, the annual cost would reach $144.

Hales and Novick said that regardless of the form, the city needs to collect roughly the same amount of revenue -- approximately $50 million -- each year. Other proposals introduced at recent city town halls include increasing the city's business income tax, instituting a progressive income tax or establishing a sales tax.

A massive bond measure to pay for years of street maintenance and safety projects is an unlikely plan however, Hales said Monday.

With the Portland Bureau of Parks & Recreation prepping to ask voters to approve a bond measure this fall, Hales said he's "wary" of using a similar mechanism to pay for road improvement, "because our property taxes are so high."

Hales said the problem with a bond measure is that it is not a permanent source of funding. The city needs money to pay for its road infrastructure "as far as the eye can see," the mayor said.

According to a 2013 city audit, the transportation bureau needs to spend $75 million each year for a decade to get Portland roads up to fair condition. In reality, that number is much larger, Hales said, and $53 million is just a step toward addressing the problems.

Portland's street funding woes date back to the implementation of Measure 5 in 1990, Hales said. The legislation capping property taxes should have been the impetus for a state sales tax or other tax reform, he said. That hasn't happened.

"If you think we'll have tax reform that undoes the effects of Measure 5, great," Hales said. "I'll be a fan." But in the meantime, Portland's roads are cracked and getting worse.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation's discretionary budget doesn't have a lot of wiggle room, Hales said. But he pledged to take a serious look at PBOT's budget in the current fiscal year to find further ways to cut costs and save money.

"Have we found every dollar with good management? No. Are we fat and sloppy? No. So we have room for improvement, always," Hales said.

One area that could potentially free up millions of discretionary spending dollars: shifting streetcar maintenance costs to the General Fund. Novick said he brought up the issue this year and will push harder in the coming years.

Hales acknowledged that Novick has a compelling argument that streetcar costs should be shared in the general fund. The streetcar, Hales said, is a redevelopment tool that has helped create some $5 billion of investment along its route

"All things considered, it would make more sense," Hales said, to shift the millions to the general fund.

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In other street fee related news, the first scheduled working group for PBOT's business working group is Monday at 3:30 p.m. at the Portland Building (Room C).

The 20 member-working group will be chaired by Portland chief administrative officer Fred Miller.

Another working group, which represents the low-income and institutional (nonprofit) sides of the fee, will meet on July 29 at 3:30 p.m. at the Portland Building. Ruth Adkins, a Portland Public Schools board member, will chair that committee.